Scott McGihon said he wasn’t circling the date on the calendar or focusing hard about it for two or three years, but he was aware of when he was going to turn 50 and what that means for an accomplished golfer.

“It’s a rite of passage. When you turn 50, you have to at least try to qualify for the Senior Open,” McGihon said. “I knew that my birthday fell at just the right time.”

McGihon, a teacher at John Glenn Middle School in La Quinta, turned 50 in April. He made his first attempt at qualifying for the U.S. Senior Open a successful one Monday. McGihon fired a 7-under 65 at Brentwood Country Club in Los Angeles to earn medalist honors by six shots and earn one of the three Open berths available from the 87-player qualifying site.

McGihon now moves on to the senior national championship June 28-July 1 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

McGihon will be joined in the Open field by two other amateurs, former U.S. Public Links Champion Tim Hogarth of Northridge and Wayne Merich of Moorpark, who also advanced from the Brentwood qualifier. Hogarth and Merich each shot 71, well, behind McGihon’s score.

McGihon said he hasn’t played much golf lately, but that didn’t show in a round of eight birdies and one bogey. Starting on the 10th tee, McGihon birdied his first two holes, then finished the round with four birdies in his final five holes on a course he hadn’t played in two years.

“I played it a couple of years ago in the SCGA Mid-Am, right after they had redone all the green complexes and the bunkers,” McGihon said. “The greens were rock hard and I hadn’t played in like eight months. I had some moments of brilliance, but it wasn’t a great round.”

McGihon credits some of his success Monday to a local Brentwood caddie. McGihon had asked a friend of his at the club to caddie for him at the club, but the friend said he has retired from caddying and recommended a caddie named Adrian.

“We had a good rapport. It just really worked out,” McGihon said. “The rest of the time we just put the ball in the right location, under the hole on the greens. And we made putts. I missed a few putts earlier in the round, but the last nine holes, I used 10 putts.”

McGihon said he has been working on his game in recent weeks, getting up at 5 a.m. to get to Avondale Country Club in Palm Desert by 6 a.m. for 45 minutes of putting before heading to work.

McGihon has been one of the top amateur golfers in California, winning the SCGA Amateur three times, the SCGA Mid-Amateur title once as well as the 2004 Trans-Mississippi Mid-Amateur Championship and playing on the SCGA Seaver Cup team four times. In recent years he has played less golf because of what he calls family obligations and the cost of traveling to tournaments.

“Three kids, a school teacher’s salary, it doesn’t work out at times,” McGihon said.